About

I first heard Selah in Elia Kazan’s 1955 masterpiece, East of Eden starring James Dean. The story parallels the old parable of Cain and Abel, and in Kazan's adaptation, Cal, the supposedly bad brother, ruins his father's refrigeration business venture by sliding large blocks of ice down a farm chute. All the ice melted, and as punishment, Cal’s father forced him and Aron, Cal’s brother, to sit at the dining room table and read the Bible. Adam chooses a portion of Psalms; he hands Cal the Bible, enormous and riddled with tears and notes in which Cal hunches over the book and begins to mumble verses. He reads Psalms 32:5 and quickly finished it with the word selah. Selah. His father suggests he reads a bit slower, and he does not have to announce the number of the verse. Cal goes on to read the next verse, starting off by announcing the number. Six. He mumbles again until he reaches the next verse. He ends his transgressions with a sharp Selah. “Seven,” he says, the tip of his tongue crawling behind his lower teeth. He continues, ending this verse with a triumphant SELAH. “Eight!” he yells. His father rises and slams his palms on the table. “You have no repentance!” Aron sits quietly, and Cal, sheepishly sits back in his chair.

I was taken aback. A word said with so much resistance and violence between Cal’s teeth, and yet it means something so peaceful and meditative. I had never heard that word before, not even in Bible study or Sunday school. It took a movie for me to fully understand the difficulty of that word. To pause and reflect. Rejoice and praise. Look to the Lord, and worship. As a religious word, it has more significance than I can fathom. As a piece of language, it is juxtaposed to the English language. Selah is Hebrew, and has never been properly translated in English. That is why its home is still in the King James Version English Bible. Selah: to pause and reflect.

I understood Selah to be more a virtue than a word. We, as artists and audiences, must look to art and reflect upon it. We cannot let art pass us by and glance at it in museums or scan over writing for class. We must invest ourselves and unwind our hesitations. We have to stop being bystanders and start understanding art as it is in front of us. We must use art as a catalyst for change and unity, and not use art to drive apart our communities. Selah means to rejoice and praise. We must take joy in our work, pride in ourselves, and understand that worldly pain is a universal concept. We cannot sit idly anymore, especially in these times. We have to use art as a product of thought and intellect, and not as a mindless excuse. We have to see as the artist sees it; we may judge and critique art, but we must understand and love it before we move forward.

We hope this magazine will allow our audience to take time from their days and lives to enjoy and understand artists and writers. We believe that we match art and writing with impeccable themes and language. We are very excited to see what our future issues hold in store for us. But for now, we must pause. Reflect. Return.

Sarah Rolinski

Founder

Contact: srolinski@selah.xyz

A writer and artist, aspiring historian and filmmaker stationed in southeast Louisiana. Loves Richard Yates and Ernest Hemingway, but spends most reading time trying to veer away from the masculine, egoistic literature. Enjoys true crime and studying art and culture from all walks of life. Hopes to live in Vienna and take pleasure in the immense art history of Europe.

Holly Penta

Holly’s works spawns from her own life, originating as diary entries of sorts, featuring real names, real people, transforming through a layer of lies, or “fictional elements”, to become more fantastical, storylines, more like she wishes her life truly was. In an attempt to make mundane events extraordinary, she’s discovered that terrible memories make great stories, that it's always easier to write a sad poem rather than a happy one, and the best memories don’t necessarily translate well into writing.

Nyima Sanneh

Network and Communications

I currently live in Houston, Texas. I absolutely love to debate as well as play field hockey, and in the future, I hope to be have a degree in Biochemistry and ultimately become a lawyer!

Emily Gaffney

Copy Editor

Emily Gaffney is a student at Louisiana State University where she studies English with a double concentration in Literature and Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture. Emily enjoys reading and analyzing works of literature, editing to enhance the work of others, and fostering her talent in her own creative writing. Emily has shown great admiration for reading, writing, and editing since early high school; through executing these talents, she hopes to pursue a career focused around her passions. Emily also plans to receive a minor in French to accompany her English degree. Her inspiration stems from a plethora of authors, primarily but not limited to: Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, and Edgar Allan Poe.